With North Carolina plumbing the depths and Duke out of the top ten, the Tobacco Road rivalry hit a nine-year low.
Saturday’s Duke-North Carolina men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.23 million viewers on ESPN, the smallest audience for the rivalry since the 2011 ACC Tournament Final (2.22M). Excluding the ACC Tournament, it was their least-watched matchup since at least 2007.
The Blue Devils’ win declined 44% in ratings and 46% in viewership from the teams’ second meeting last year (2.5, 4.16M) and 30% and 34% respectively from 2018 (2.0, 3.37M). It also declined double-digits from their first meeting of this season, an overtime thriller last month (1.6, 2.67M).
Both Duke-UNC games this season sank more than a third from last year. While Duke had Zion Williamson on its roster last season, he was largely absent from the team’s games against UNC.
Despite the lower numbers, the game still ranks as the sixth-most watched of the season. Keep in mind that this season has been a far weaker draw than last. The top game of the year so far — the first Duke-UNC matchup last month — would not have cracked the top ten at the same point last season.
Earlier Saturday, Louisville-Virginia averaged 1.21 million — down 19% from the same matchup in the same window last year (1.50M). ESPN also pulled 1.15 million for Kansas-Texas Tech (+57%) and 1.17 million for Wisconsin-Indiana (+6%). Figures for the broadcast networks were not immediately available.
